Sermon - 5-7-23

<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><strong style= "mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.</span></strong> <span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;">    </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">This bold, seemingly audacious promise of Jesus is given to his disciples and to the infant church in the first century and even now to us who would follow him in this 21^st century.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> “If in my name…” <span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If we are troubled in mind or heart, we need only ask Jesus for comfort and he will give it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> If we are overcome by shame or self-loathing, we need only ask Jesus for the assurance that we are beautiful in his sight and he will give it.</span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">If we have nightmares of being lost and alone as I often do, we need only to ask Jesus to walk with us and he will do it…<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> It is in his name, in his nature to save us from falsehoods, from dead ends, from paths that lead nowhere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> Our risen Lord is with us on this fifth Sunday of Easter, this first Sunday after we said “goodbye” to Pastor Ellen.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> If only we ask in his name, he is right here, right now, holding our hands, gently but firmly, assuring us that all will be well.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">I talked yesterday morning with the son of a good friend who shared with me that his father was near death.<span style= "mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> In the course of the conversation I asked him if he had a sense, even palpably, that Christ was with him and his family in this difficult moment.<span style="m